Dr. Wendy Hymes: 'Pianist William Chapman Nyaho is a musician’s musician.'

[ASA: Piano Music by Composers of African Descent; William Chapman Nyaho, piano; MSR Classics MS1242 (2008)]

MyMusic2u.info/ quotes William Chapman Nyaho on ASA: Piano Music by Composers of African Descent:

“The vast repertoire of piano music of Africa and its Diaspora, which has until recently been generally unavailable, appears in myriad forms and styles, from simple to virtuosic. This compact disc brings to light compositions that may have remained in manuscript form, been out of print, or not widely circulated. I have entitled it Asa, which in Fanti (my mother's language) is the noun for dance as most of the music on the disc finds its roots in dance music.”

Dr. Wendy Hymes writes this review:

June 13, 2010

Rating: 5 Stars

“Pianist William Chapman Nyaho is a musician’s musician. Being a musician myself, when I find myself listening to a recording many times and enjoying it each time, I take note that this artist has something special. Nyaho’s artistry on his instrument, the piano is superb. Here he shines in a broad range of musical styles. What’s so wonderful is that he succeeds in painting an audio picture for us, the listener, in each and every track. This being a dance-themed album, I love to hear the joyous dancing he is doing on the keyboard! Aside from his pianistic abilities, is the striking uniqueness of each of these pieces, most of them never recorded and quite a number of them world premieres. These gems will open a new world for any avid pianist searching for quality repertoire 'off the beaten path.'”

[William Chapman Nyaho (b. 1958) is profiled at AfriClassical.com and has a personal website, http://www.Nyaho.com]

Comment by email:
Hi Bill, Thanks! Cheers, Wendy Hymes, DMA, Louisiana State University

Bluffton U.: 'Pearl Bogart Mann Memorial Piano Recital Features William Chapman Nyaho'

[ASA: Piano Music by Composers of African Descent; William Chapman Nyaho, piano;
MSR Classics MS1242 (2008)]

Bluffton.edu
Bluffton University will host concert pianist William Chapman Nyaho in the Pearl Bogart Mann Memorial Piano Recital on Feb. 25 as part of the 2009-10 Bluffton University Artist Series. The concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Yoder Recital Hall. Limited seating is available. Contact the box office at boxoffice@bluffton.edu or 419-358-3239 for ticket information.

Nyaho studied at the Achimota School in Ghana and Oxford University, where he received his bachelor of arts degree at the Honour School of Music. He continued to study piano at the Conservatoire de Musique de Geneve in Switzerland and the University of Texas in Austin where he obtained his doctor of musical arts degree. Nyaho has won prizes for his piano performance at the Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition and the Ibla Grand Prize International Competition in Italy. [William Chapman Nyaho (b. 1958) has made three CDs and has compiled and edited Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora, a groundbreaking 5-volume series of sheet music published by Oxford University Press. Dr. Nyaho is profiled at AfriClassical.com and at http://www.Nyaho.com]

The Voice of African Music: 'Dr. Nyaho embodies the spirit of a true multicultural educator'

[William Chapman Nyaho - Asa: Piano Music by Composers of African Descent, MSR Classics MS 1242 (2008)]

The Voice of African MusicVolume 16, No. 2 May 2009
Piano Music by Composers of African Descent
New CD by William Chapman Nyaho Reviewed in May/June 2009 American Record Guide
“If the scores are in print, maybe some of them will start turning up on recital programs alongside the Three Bs.” “Anyone who has had it with pianists playing and recording the same repertory over and over should be delighted by the treasure trove of (mostly) premieres. The 11 composers whose works are offered here are not known quantities in our country, but they should be. For example, there is Fred Onovwerosuoke (b. 1960), who was born in Ghana to Nigerian parents. Nyaho begins with six of his Studies in African Rhythms'. These kinetic pieces easily get under one's skin and they sound like they are fun to play. Kushner, American Record Guide“

"It is very rare to find in one individual an unflinching devotion to both chart the course of artistic excellence and multicultural education. But pianist Dr. William Chapman Nyaho has done this with grace and unmatched charm. For almost a decade now he has singlehandedly carried the mantle of promoting the piano repertoire by composers of African descent.” “His research unveiled an enormous resource of unpublished piano works by African, African American and Caribbean and other African-descent composers. 'There indeed exists a vast repertoire of piano music by this unknown constituency of composers, appearing in myriad forms and styles, from simple to virtuosic...some properly noted, but much of it in manuscript form, and certainly not widely circulated.'”

“Besides performing, his five-volume anthology, Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora, published by Oxford University Press in 2007 and 2008, immediately became a seminal work cherished by students, scholars and music educators world-wide. His two CDs Senku and Asa,(which incidentally opens with six of my piano studies) released on the MSR-Classics label exclusively features piano works by composers from Africa and the African Diaspora and thus have become a much needed companion for the Oxford anthology. Together, these initiatives complement the collections of America's music libraries which today stock very little in classical music repertoire by African-descent composers.” “To most of us engaged in the promotion and scholarship of new intercultural music by African and other African-descent composers, Dr. Nyaho embodies the spirit of a true multicultural educator.” Fred Onovwerosuoke [Dr. William Chapman Nyaho is profiled at AfriClassical.com and has a website of his own, http://www.nyaho.com/

Nyaho's CD 'Asa: Piano Music by Composers of African Descent' at All Music Guide

[William Chapman Nyaho - Asa: Piano Music by Composers of African Descent]

Dr. William Chapman Nyaho is a pianist, music editor and music professor who was born in Washington, D.C. to Ghanaian parents in 1958, and raised in Ghana from the age of 10 months. He is profiled at AfriClassical.com, and sends us word of this review of his new CD, MSR Classics MS1242, by James Manheim of All Music Guide: “Hi Bill check this out.. love the way this reviewer ties it all together.”

Swapacd.com

William Chapman Nyaho - Asa: Piano Music by Composers of African Descent CD Review

"This release by American pianist William Chapman Nyaho, who is of Ghanaian background, collects music by black composers in a way that has rarely if ever been done before, and it's highly recommended to anyone interested in the intersection of African music with European concert forms. The program is unusual and instructive in two ways. First, it's cross-generational. Much of the music is by contemporary composers, but there are also a few classics of the genre like Florence Price's Dances in the Canebrakes. Nyaho brings out the continuities between the generations, with the basic impulse toward drawing on African-based rhythmic materials intact even as the younger composers add contemporary techniques. The program also includes more non-American than American pieces, and here, too, Nyaho makes a powerful case for the African diaspora as a musical unity. The older pieces are especially interesting in this regard. 'Pomme Cannelle' (Cinnamon Apple) from Guadeloupean composer Alan Pierre Pradel's Sept Pièces Créoles, could have passed for a piece of American ragtime. Much of the music has never been recorded before, and several of the African pieces are real finds. Sample especially South African composer Bongani Ndodana's Flowers in Sand, with its delicate impressionist portraiture superimposed on rhythms on the Venda culture."  [Full Post] [William Chapman Nyaho, Florence B. Price and Alain Pierre Pradel are profiled at AfriClassical.com]